Characteristics

Defense

Offense

Ground is the only type super effective against Electric, and is super effective against five types in total, tying with Fighting for the most super effective matchups.

Because Ground is so useful offensively and resisted by so few types, Ground often provides good coverage when combined with another type of attack. It does particularly well when combined with Ice, as Ice's strong matchups include Grass and Flying.

Ground attacks cannot hit Pokémon under the effect of Magnet Rise or Telekinesis, though all Pokémon lose their immunity to Ground when they are grounded (such as by Ingrain, Gravity, or Thousand Arrows). Further, most Ground-type Pokémon can learn Rock-type moves (mainly those available via TM such as Rock Slide) to check Flying-types, along with Bug-types and Ice-types.

Trivia

Generation I introduced the most Ground-type Pokémon of any Generation, with 14, and Generation VI introduced the fewest, with two.

Generation I introduced the most Ground-type moves of any Generation, with six, and Generations IV and V introduced the fewest, with two each.

Generation VI is the only Generation to not introduce a pure Ground-type Pokémon.

In the anime, Ground-type Pokémon's immunity to Electric-type attacks is treated inconsistently, sometimes upheld and sometimes ignored. The anime (in particular Showdown at Pewter City) also implies that Ground's immunity to Electric has a limit depending on the voltage, as Brock's Onix, when first fighting Pikachu, was completely unaffected by Pikachu's electricity, but in the rematch, Pikachu's electric attacks, having been boosted at an abandoned hydroelectric plant, were giving Onix a noticeable degree of pain, although it still was not enough to completely incapacitate it, as well as environmental factors (such as water being sprayed on it).